THE ONLINE SEMINAR
How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us
Session Five: Our Motivation
Part 3
Human Nature is Selfish
We mentioned King David in Session Four. But, what we didn’t mention in Session Four is that David had a son who grew up to be the fabulous King Solomon – the most intelligent and wealthy person who ever lived. King Solomon has been the subject of many books, plays, and movies in our time, and researchers believe that nobody else has ever been as smart or as rich as King Solomon was over 3,000 years ago.
So, with all of his amazing experience and historic intelligence, what did King Solomon think about the natural motivation of human beings? Here’s what he said about it:
“There’s not a righteous person on earth who does what’s good
and who never sins.”
That was short and sweet, wasn’t it. The most intelligent person who ever lived put the principle quite clearly: There’s not a human being on earth who’s just, righteous, good, and sinless. Said another way, the fabulous King Solomon understood and accepted the principle that people’s natural motivation is the inner force of their selfish nature (their “flesh”).
Well, what about Jesus Christ? Was the human side of His inner motivation “good”? (Of course, we know that the Spiritual side of His inner motivation was good.) Let’s find out.
Human Nature Is Selfish
One day, Jesus was teaching across the Jordan River in Israel, debating with a group of Pharisees,[2. The Pharisees (pronounced “fair’-uh-seas”) were members of a Jewish religious group that hated Jesus. They continually tried to trick Him and were constantly plotting against Him. In the end, they played a major role in having Jesus executed.] and hugging the children who were flocking around Him. Suddenly, a wealthy young man came running up in the dust and fell on his knees before Jesus. The young man cried out to Jesus, calling Him “good teacher.” But Jesus rebuked the young man and said:
“Why are you calling Me good? No one is good but one person – and
that one person is God.”[3. Adapted from Mark, chapter 10, verses 17-18.]
So King David agreed. And King Solomon agreed. And Jesus agreed. And the apostle Paul agreed (as we saw in Session Four). None of us is good in our inner human nature. None of us is Spiritual in our core makeup. None of us can please God with the behavior produced by our natural inner motivation.
Most of us, if we’re deathbed honest, have made “mistakes” we wouldn’t like to discuss in public. At some point in our lives, most of us have had a greater or lesser problem with alcohol, or drug abuse, or pornography – or gambling, adultery, spousal abuse, child abuse, road rage, lust, or things equally bad. We make such “mistakes” because that’s the natural way humans behave. Thus, the big question we have here, at the end of Session Five, is simple: “What can we do about it?”
We saw the answer to that question back in Session One. Here’s what we said in that session:
“Every problem in our lives is the result of unspiritual behavior
somewhere: Either ours, or someone else’s, or both. Thus, every
problem in our lives would eventually be solved (or would no
longer matter) if we, and everyone around us, started growing
Spiritually.”
So the answer to all the trouble that our selfish natures create for us is clear: We need to start growing Spiritually.
Back in Session One, we saw two stories. The first story was about a stranger who found a “great treasure” in a field. The second story was about a merchant who found a “fine pearl” in a market. Both the stranger and the merchant were so excited that they sold everything they had to take possession of their wonderful discoveries. But – what do the “treasure” and the “pearl” represent in those ancient Christian stories?
The treasure and the pearl represent people’s lives that aren’t motivated by their selfish nature (by their “flesh”). The treasure and the pearl represent people’s lives that aren’t powered by pride, anger, lust, jealousy, and vulgarity. Quite the opposite, the treasure and the pearl represent people’s lives that are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness.
Let’s think about that a moment. Is there anyone who wouldn’t want such a life? There can only be two reasons why a person wouldn’t want a life filled with supernatural peace, hope, and purpose. Here are those two reasons:
1. The first reason is that a person might be unaware of his or her selfish behavior.
Some people are so “desensitized” to their own selfish behavior that they don’t
notice it when it’s happening. Because of that “hardness,” one purpose of this
seminar is to help people become more sensitive to their unspiritual behavior.
2. The second reason why a person might not want a life filled with supernatural
peace, hope, and purpose is that he or she might like selfish behavior. Some
people are so “addicted” to selfish behavior that they don’t want to give it
up. Because of that “addiction,” another purpose for this seminar is to help
people kick the habit of selfishness and to develop a hunger for Spiritual
growth.
In summary, everyone needs a second source of inner motivation that has the potential to do two things for them:
1. It can flood their mind with Spiritual feelings of love, joy, peace, and patience.
2. It can prevent their mind from being ruled by pride, anger, vulgarity, and cruelty.
The good news is that such a second source of inner motivation is readily available to all of us. It’s simple, it’s free, and it’s open to everyone, regardless of their background. It’s supernatural – and it’s the source of all Spiritual growth. We’re going to start discussing that second source of inner motivation in Session Six. Let’s continue on to Session Six now.
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